"The Man in the High Castle" Recap: "End of the World"

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

The Man in the High Castle has done such a fine job of sucking us in with it's powerhouse world and vibrant characters and their beautiful stories that as the episodes have progressed, something important has managed to go the wayside when it comes to the story...the all important films that show a world where the Allied Forces won. 

So clearly it was high time for the show to bring that all important element back into the story, even going so far as to start the episode with Lem and the Resistance being summoned to get their hands on a new film. But while the films seemed a little easier to transport and deliver earlier in the series, the hunt for this one would turn out to be extremely difficult and costly as the series decided to ramp up the storytelling on our way to the season one finale.  

But, before we get into that, we do need to take a moment and discuss the wonder of John Smith's story. After all this is a guy who started out as a secondary character but he has slowly started to come to the forefront and this was his breaking out episode if you will since our first clues as to who tried to assassinate finally come in and well...he faces his biggest personal challenge yet. For as it turns out, his son has a debilitating disease now in its early stages and there was something quite powerful about watching the head of the American SS be faced with the fact that at some point or another, he would have to follow the rules of the Reich and put his son to death. 

But his troubles didn't end there since a slice of real history came to life before our eyes on the show when Smith is visited by SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich at his office since Heydrich has come to America to retrieve the traitor Wegener and from the get go, it's a strange cat and mouse game in Smith's office where it becomes clear the two men tolerate but don't necessarily respect one another and an odd move by one of Smith's assistants gives him pause and concern because it's clear said assistant has been talking to Heydrich on a regular basis and John leaves the meeting with the feeling that his assistant and Heydrich could be working together to get Smith out of the way. 

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That mystery however will have to be on hold for another time because while Smith deals with messes in New York, Robert and Frank's plan to sell the fake artifact to the collector actually goes off without a hitch, netting Frank a lovely 46,000 yen to get the hell out of dodge and he begins to make arrangements to escape to the Neutral Zone with Juliana. But before she can leave, there is the matter of the new film to deal with since it has fallen into the hands of the Yakuza and they want 100,000 yen to hand it over, meaning she will need Joe's help and some serious Nazi cash to make it happen. 

It also means that Joe wants in on the action, since it's his money he wants to be the one to retrieve the film. Granted the resistance has no clue that his intent is to get it back to the Greater Nazi Reich, and because of that relent and allow him to snag the film. But there is a problem waiting for Joe, the Kempeitai have laid a trap to capture whomever comes for the film and Juliana discovers this courtesy of info from her stepfather, forcing her to leave the bus behind and save her friend and while she manages to pull it off, their escape from the Kempeitai matters not when the Yakuza snatch them and the film up, leaving us essentially with a cliffhanger as Joe and Juliana find themselves locked away, without the film and without hope.  

Needless to say the return of the films made for powerhouse storytelling as the pace for this show suddenly picked up and well, I'm dying to see how Juliana and Joe get out of this particular mess because this is a good one to say the least. But what surprised me the most in this episode was John Smith's storyline since we finally went beyond the SS uniform and saw him for what he is...a good father and family man. It's strange to humanize someone we should hate, but this is the episode where you discover, at least I did, that you kind of like the guy and are rooting for him because man...Heydrich is about as evil as they come. I mean come on he brags about murdering the Jewish population in Europe no less than a minute after we meet the man and I can't lie, I hope he is indeed the one behind the attack on John so John can exact a little revenge upon him. Either way, the end of season one is in sight and I simply must know more so I'm off to watch the next episode and I'll meet you back here to discuss it a little later on, until then.

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